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When first introduced to the marketplace, trans fats were believed to be a healthier option than saturated fats. Many people will remember growing up believing that margarine was a healthier choice than butter. Along with the health angle, the initial move to substitute trans for saturated fats comes down to chemistry. Both trans and saturated fats are solid at room temperature, and thus give processed foods an appealing mouth feel and texture. They also impart shelf-stability, so packaged foods stay fresh longer.
Healthier options, such as the poly- and monounsaturated fats found in vegetable, olive, and nut oils are liquid at room temperature. They don’t work well in many of our favorite cookies, cakes, crackers, pizzas, and pies.
Several decades on, however, it has become clear that trans fats aren’t just bad for the heart, they are even worse than the original saturated fats they were designed to replace. Enter the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Once trans fats were implicated in heart disease, the processed food industry began a voluntary move away from them. Replacing them with trans fat-free options has led the average trans fat intake for Americans to decrease from 4.6 grams per day in 2003 to about 1 gram daily in 2012.
However, the FDA feels this isn’t enough. To ensure the removal of all artificially produced trans fats from the food supply, the agency has proposed the removal of the generally recognized as safe, or GRAS, designation for partially hydrogenated fats, the main source of artificial trans fats in the diet. GRAS applies to food additives that are recognized by qualified experts as safe under conditions of intended use. GRAS substances are not subject to premarket approval and review by the FDA before being added to foods.
On November 7, 2013, a Federal Register notice was published, announcing the proposed removal of GRAS status for partially hydrogenated fats. The proposal is open for a 60-day public comment period, and unless comments are compelling enough to convince the FDA that partially hydrogenated fats are safe, it is likely that this proposal will become official early in 2014.
What should you do until these fats are eliminated from the food supply? Use these tips to help you make the healthiest choices for your family:
(Consumer Updates; FDA Targets Trans Fat in Processed Foods. Available at: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm372915.htm)